Welcome to the Polar Barcode of Life campaign website. As part of iBOL, PolarBOL aims to provide the most efficient and accurate tool for mapping and monitoring polar biodiversity. The program wishes to coordinate barcode efforts in ongoing bioinventory projects and to expand the current database of DNA barcodes by 20,000 additional polar species within a five-year period (2010-2014).

The earth’s climate is changing and in the last few decades the average temperature in the Arctic has risen at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world (AICA 2004; IPCC 2007). In addition, the effects of climate change are likely to be more severe in the fragile environments of polar regions. These arguments have been supported by the most extensive summer melting of the Arctic ice sheet seen since accurate measurements started in the late 1970s (NSIDC 2007). The dramatic environmental changes caused by climate change in polar regions, combined with increased development and shipping, have the potential to significantly affect both the composition and distribution of the polar biota. Thus, an effective tool to permit rapid and accurate mapping and monitoring of biodiversity changes in these regions is needed to observe and minimize the negative impacts that climate change can have on polar ecosystems.

The PolarBOL website is intended to facilitate communication between researchers and ongoing projects and to help coordinate the building of a global reference library of DNA barcodes for polar organisms. Eventually, we wish to include all polar animal, plant, and fungal species in the library. These web pages are intended to provide the following services to the Polar barcoding community:

List participants in the PolarBOL network and provide updated information on the various partnering projects.

Provide real-time reports on the status of taxonomic coverage attained.

Maintain a source of concurrent information on the methodological aspects of DNA barcoding and guidelines on best practices for sample and data collection.

Serve as a communication platform accessible to all people interested in the barcoding of polar organisms, including taxonomists, ecologists, bio-monitoring experts, conservation officials, and amateur naturalists.

Please consider getting involved in this exciting project and visit the site often.

iBOL Overview

IBOL - The International Barcode of Life project. This proposed International Consortium Initiative will oversee the assembly of DNA barcodes for 5M sequences and 500K species by 2015. The Polar Barcode of Life working group (WG 1.10) will aim to assemble a comprehensive library of DNA barcodes for 20K polar species. Research programs linked to the International Polar Year (2008-2010) are providing a unique opportunity for the barcoding of polar life. Massive sampling programs have been launched that will gather unprecedented numbers of specimens suitable for barcode analysis. These sampling missions will make a huge in-kind contribution to iBOL; $50M will be directed toward marine sampling programs in the Southern Ocean alone during field season 2008-2009. Because diversity in polar regions is low, a reference library with records for 20K species will provide comprehensive coverage of the dominant taxonomic groups.